Ramblings and Other Such Things

This is a reproduction of an article by Paul Markel featured in today edition of Outdoor Wire. It can be found here . Editor's Note: Normally, Paul Markel is one of our contributing editors when it comes to firearms and their tactical applications. Today, we thought you'd find his observations on the expectations of a segment of today's society thought-provoking. Having come through several natural disasters, I know not everyone practices the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. According to every Hollywood movie I've seen, zombies are flesh-eaters with the prime delicacy being the brains. I don't know what's so special about the brains, as an entree' they seem rather distasteful to me, but then I haven't succumb to a secret government experiment gone awry or some strain of the super-flu that altered my DNA. Nonetheless, I would offer that the zombies are already among us and the prime sustenance is the Big Mac or perhaps the Whopper. Take your pick. Food on D...

It's been an age since I have written anything here. Maybe it's because I've been too busy. Maybe it's because I've not had anything to write. Maybe it's because I haven't had the mind set to listen and have a profound thought. Whatever it is, I had a thought today. I was watching a post of my granddaughter this morning on FaceBook. I edited and posted the video myself, so it wasn't new to me. But it struck me profoundly. There's my two and a half year old granddaughter playing in our living room pretending to have a conversation over an old non-working telephone with Santa. She is so excited. "Oh, hi Santa. He's looking for me! He's looking for me!" Faith like that of a little child. We all need that. Here's this little girl talking to Santa, and He is looking for her. We have someone who is looking for us too. "Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my he...

I came across this quote the other day from William Shakespeare's Henry V , it is the Crispain Day speech, where the troops, out numbered and out manned, are inspired to take on a greater French forces. I thought it was appropriate as we go into this Memorial Day weekend. Read it and remember... remember those who have come before. Who have paid dearly with life and blood, to provide you and me with the freedom we now take for granted. Please remember freedom is never, ever free. Generations past have known this, but I fear our current generation has lost its way. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be fo...

Mysterious Ways by U2 Johnny take a walk with your sister the moon Let her pale light in to fill up your room You've been living underground Eating from a can You've been running away From what you don't understand... Love She's slippy You're sliding down She'll be there when you hit the ground It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain Let her talk about the things you can't explain To touch is to heal To hurt is to steal If you want to kiss the sky Better learn how to kneel (on your knees boy) She's the wave She turns the tide She sees the man inside the child It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright She moves in mysterious ways It's alright, it's alright, it's alright Lift my days,...

"POPS! Where's POPS?" I hear that these words are said about me when I am not around. They get said by my two year old granddaughter. Yes, she calls me "Pops." When our grand children started to arrive my wife and I decided to choose fun names for ourselves. We felt we were too young to be called Grandma or Grandpa so we decided on Grams and Pops. We figured either the names would stick or we'd get picked up by Kellogg's as a breakfast cereal. I think that "Pops" is easier to say than "Grams". She has only called my wife by Grams a couple of times. Pops, when you think about it, is really only one sound that has to be made. Grams has like three, the "G" the "R" for "gr" then you have to add an "A" and the "MS" at the end: Gr-a-ms. So it was kind of fun that she started saying my name, "POPS." Over the last few months, I've been trying to find and relate to God in a d...

Friends, let me go over the Message with you one final time— this Message that I proclaimed and that you made your own; this Message on which you took your stand and by which your life has been saved. (I'm assuming, now, that your belief was the real thing and not a passing fancy, that you're in this for good and holding fast.) The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I ...